Embassy of Israel in New Zealand
- Israel is protecting its citizens from a wave of terrorism instigated by Hamas. Israel has taken steps to restrain and de-escalate the situation for a number of weeks. These steps have been answered by a wave of rockets and acts of terrorism from the Gaza Strip.
- Israel is currently experiencing a large-scale wave of terrorism that is being directed entirely at civilian population centres throughout the country. No country would tolerate such extreme levels of terrorism and aggression.
- Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations are committing double war crimes. Hamas is indiscriminately launching rockets at civilian population centres and is launching them from within civilian population centres. Every rocket that is launched at Israel is an act of terrorism and a war crime. Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations have carried out over 1,500 war crimes in the past three days.
- Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations have situated their terrorist infrastructures (launch bases, weapons arsenals, manufacturing sites, headquarters) in the heart of the civilian population, including within multi-story buildings. In doing so, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations have turned the civilian population of Gaza into a human shield. Between 20-30 per cent of the rockets launched by Hamas and the terrorist organisations fall in the territory of the Gaza Strip. Indications suggest that at least nine Palestinian children were killed by these rocket landings.
- The IDF is only acting against terrorist targets in Gaza that are directly connected to the rocket fire on Israel’s cities and civilians. Israel is acting against the terrorist attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations in a measured and accurate manner and on the basis of unequivocal intelligence information, adhering to the principles of international law.
- Strengthening of Hamas is a mistake. The strengthening of Hamas is destructive to the effort to achieve regional stability. Hamas instigated the escalation in the current situation in an attempt to seize control of the Palestinian agenda and to weaken and replace the Palestinian Authority. Hamas’ strength in the face of the Palestinian Authority opposes Palestinian interests, harms Palestinian society and is not in the international community’s interests, and certainly harms the State of Israel’s interests and security. Hamas is exploiting the heightened religious and nationalist sentiments surrounding the holy days in Jerusalem in order to encourage terrorism and violence. Unequivocally condemning these acts of terrorism and supporting Israel’s steps to protect its citizens will help to prevent this radical terrorist organisation from being further emboldened at the expense of pragmatic and moderate actors.
- The internal tension in Israel arising from the current situation is indeed worrisome. The State of Israel is a law-abiding country and the police will maintain law and order throughout the country. These are difficult days of polarisation and violence within Israeli society. The President, Prime Minister, and other public leaders have condemned the violence on all sides and have called for de-escalation. The Prime Minister called on the country’s citizens to unite in order to reinstate governance, neutralize the anarchy, and preserve and restore the security and calm that we all deserve.
- It is important to note that Sheikh Jarrah is not the story. Hamas is attacking Israel for its self-declared goal of eliminating Israel. Hamas has exploited the tensions surrounding the Sheikh Jarrah legal matter and turned it into a nationalist and religious issue in order to bring about an escalation, violence, and terrorism. Whoever links Hamas’ terrorist attacks and hundreds of rocket launches against the civilian population in Israel to the issue of Sheikh Jarrah is playing into the hands of the terrorist organization and granting legitimacy to terrorist activities.
We condemn these acts of terrorism in the strongest terms and hope to return to our lives of coexistence and peace soon.
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